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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, July 1, 2012) – There is still no official word from the Fiji regime on whether it will renew the license of Fiji TV.

The license will expire tomorrow but is expected to be renewed after a written assurance given by the interim attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khayium, last year.

This month, the regime issued a decree that empowers the minister to revoke or vary a television license if the licensee is found to have breached the Media Code of Ethics under the Media Industry Development Decree.

The Labour Party says it finds it abhorrent that none of the decrees can be challenged.

Earlier this month, Fiji TV was reportedly warned that its license was at risk for giving coverage to two former prime ministers.

Fiji has two other television stations, Mai TV and FBC TV, which is run by the interim prime minister’s brother.

Member of Gizo ward in Western provincial assembly, Danny Kennedy filed the case against Lilo following his failure to produce evidence of funds he used when became Member of Gizo Kolombangara from 2002-2012.

The funds include the Rural Constituency Development funds, Millennium funds, Micro Projects Livelihood, Tsunami funds and any other public funds.

According to the court document obtained by Solomon Star last night, Kennedy (claimant) said since Lilo (defendant) was elected into Parliament in year 2002, he failed, refused, ignored or omitted to explain or produce proper records with documents to him.

Kennedy said by refusing, omitting or failing to disclose how these public funds were administered, Lilo (defendant...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, July 2, 2012) – Marianas Medical Center (MMC) announced yesterday that it will temporarily stop service to patients who are using Medicaid due to the government's nonpayment of reimbursement.

Joy Sanchez, Marianas Medical Center office manager, confirmed with Saipan Tribune the company's decision. She said an announcement stopping their service to Medicaid holder has been posted since yesterday at the facility's entrance.

MMC advised the affected patients that suspension of their service takes effect today, July 2, and apologized for the temporary interruption of service.

In the same announcement, MMC said if Medicaid patients want to avail of service, they will be required a self-pay by the company.

According to Sanchez, services to Medicaid patients will resume once payments are made by the government.

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, July 2, 2012) – Now that Saipan Air ceased its operations and dashed the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) hopes for economic recovery starting this year, pro-casino proponents said there's a need to push more strongly an ongoing signature petition to put the question of legalizing casino gaming on Saipan on the Nov. 6 ballot to help save the local economy from collapsing altogether.

Rep. Ray Palacios (Cov-Saipan) said while Saipan casinos won't result in "immediate" cash infusion to the CNMI economy the way Saipan Air could have done, Saipan casinos could generate new money that the CNMI does not currently have.

"Casino is one way to help our economy. It's better than nothing at all. I don't see any other plan. Saipan Air would have been the new major driver of the economy but like I said earlier, it's understandable why Saipan Air...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, June 29, 2012) – Friday was the sixth day of polling in Papua New Guinea, and the people are waiting anxiously for Electoral Commissioner, Andrew Trawen, to tell them what he intends to do with the thousands of voters who have missed out because their names are not on the Electoral Roll.

Mr. Trawen had assured Parliament and the people, especially the estimated 4.3 million eligible voters in April that the electoral roll was more than 90 percent complete and it would be ready in time for the polls at the end of June.

However, this has not been the case and thousands of people have been denied their right to cast their votes, beginning with the first day of polling and it is likely that thousands more will miss out with delayed polling in almost all provinces because of various reasons.

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (Marianas Variety Guam, July 2, 2012) – The Guam Displacement, Education, and Training Committee of the Governor’s Spending Task Force has developed a plan of action for workers who will be impacted by Gov. Eddie Calvo’s directive to cut government spending by $43 million. Calvo recently directed government of Guam agencies to explore belt-tightening solutions, which could potentially displace a number of workers employed in these agencies.

The plan of action, an offshoot of the committee meeting held recently, discussed measures that could help workers smoothly transition out of government work into possible new career or entrepreneurial opportunities.

According to Agency for Human Resources Development (AHRD) Director Alfredo Antolin Jr., the committee will be convening a rapid response team comprised of representatives from partner agencies such as...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, June 29, 2012) – A study has found soil and food contamination on the French Polynesian atoll of Hao from PCB and heavy metal pollutants.

Extracts from the study were published in the French newspaper Le Monde, and follow an announcement earlier in June of plans for an aquaculture project on Hao.

The atoll was the main French military base during France’s nuclear weapons testing program in the South Pacific.

The publisher of the Tahiti-Pacifique monthly, Alex Du Prel, says the study shows the contamination is industrial and not nuclear.

"So they used to throw all there oil changes and leaky transformers into septic tanks and these tanks leached into the lagoon. Apparently there are certain areas where the fish is not edible and there are coconut groves where the coconuts are not edible."

NUKUALOFA, Tonga (Matangi Tonga, June 29, 2012) – Tonga's first Solar Farm, built at a cost of TOP $12 million [US$6.7 million] at the Tonga Power Popua station in 'Anana is expected to be officially opened on July 24, and start generating electricity, a Tonga Power Ltd. spokesperson said.

The solar farm has capacity to be able to generate 1,880 megawatt hours of electricity a year, or about 4 percent of Tongatapu's total electricity demand. It is expected to reduce Tonga's use of diesel by approximately 470,000 liters and decrease carbon emissions by over 2,000 tons annually, she said.

Meridian Energy, a leading developer of renewable energy in New Zealand constructed the solar farm with funding from the New Zealand government. The spokesperson said the final partnership agreement between Meridian and Tonga Power required Tonga Power to operate and maintain the facility with asset management support from...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, July 1, 2012) – Research evaluating the general state of investigative journalism in seven Pacific Island countries proposes collaboration between media, civil society organizations, academia, and other social institutes to help strengthen capacity.

The author, Shailendra Singh, is former divisional head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific and ex-editor of The Review news magazine. He points out that lack of resources in newsrooms, lack of training for journalists and repressive environments pose major constraints for investigative journalism in the Pacific.

Singh, who has widely researched and written on corruption and governance issues in Fiji and the Pacific, is a current doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.